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numbers that local telco services reached by creating ‘special’ campaigns in 2017. Following these ‘special’ campaigns, they have announced new tiers to subscribers – which includes a free one with limited catalogue – on 1st January 2018. This caused a big churn on the service and high subscriber numbers have diminished.” The depreciation of the Turkish lira in the middle of 2018 has caused also limited growth in the Turkish market, he explains, when measured in US dollars.

Bülent Forta, general coordinator and

board member of Mü-Yap, estimates that around 1m people in Turkey subscribe to a music streaming service – still fairly small beer for a country of 81.3m inhabitants. He believes there is still considerable room for digital growth. “A large part of the catalogues has still not transferred to digital,” he says. “There are also no music videos of many tracks. In addition, the number of subscribers is not yet at the desired level. Thus, it can be foreseen that the digital market will grow with big steps in the coming year.”

Turkey’s streaming market is home to both international operators like Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, alongside services operated by local telco TurkcellMüzik (Fizy) and TurkTelekom Müzik (Muud). However, by far the most popular online music platform in Turkey is YouTube. In Statista’s 2016 figures for YouTube’s leading global markets

MARKET PROFILE Turkey

Turkey may not be the fi rst market that springs to mind in the music business but it enjoyed the largest percentage increase in streaming revenue in all of Europe in 2017... and that’s demanding attention

STATS

fPopulation 81.3mdGDP (purchasing power parity)

$2.2 trillionGDP real growth rate 7.4%GDP per capita (PPP) $27,000hInternet users 46.8mcBroadband subscriptions 11.9miMobile subscriptions 77.8mSources: CIA World Factbook. Figures: 2017 estimates

TURKEY

It may surprise some people in the global music industry to know that Turkey was the country with the biggest percentage increase in streaming revenue in all of

Europe in 2017. That was thanks to a 96.4% leap that put it far ahead of Austria’s 64% according to the IFPI. It’s not that the industry thinks of Turkey as stuck in a physical music past but rather that the music business as a whole tends not to think of Turkey at all.

But really they should: Turkey is a vast country, home to some 81.3m people, with an economy that grew 7.4% in 2017. The country’s recorded music industry, meanwhile, saw revenues increase by 31.7%

in 2017, one of the largest increases globally, coming on top of a 25.8% increase in 2016. What’s more, the vast majority of this came from subscription streaming, which increased from $11.46m in 2016 to $23.44m in 2017, as total streaming income grew to $30.37m.

In 2018, Turkish recorded music association Mü-Yap expects digital music revenue in Turkey to grow by about 25%, while Metin Uzelli, a veteran of the Turkish music industry, predicts that the overall market will grow by 10-15% as the streaming boom slows slightly.

“This is because of a couple of reasons,” he adds. “First is the very high subscriber

The demand for Turkish music, especially in Europe due to the

Turkish population, caused the increasing of [streaming]

companies’ revenues...” – Bülent Forta, Mü-Yap

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based on monthly active users, Turkey was ranked 10th with 28.8m. Turkey, of course, is a big country. But only 46.8m Turks are internet users according to the CIA World Factbook, with 11.9m broadband connections nationwide.

“Undoubtedly YouTube is the most popular source of music in Turkey,” says Forta. “It is possible to say that this negatively affects paid subscriptions such as Spotify and Deezer. However, the demand for Turkish music, especially in Europe due to the Turkish population, caused the increasing of companies’ revenues, including from YouTube, despite the crisis.” Video streams brought in

$4.91m to the Turkish recorded music industry in 2017 according to the IFPI, up from $2.81m in 2016.

The Turkish diaspora is one of the key strengths of the country’s recorded music market, with around 2.85m Turks living in Germany alone. Uzelli estimates that 15% of total consumption of Turkish music comes from outside Turkey itself – a number that is increasing – while the size of the Turkish diaspora also plays a role in the vast success of YouTube channels like NetD and Müzikplay, which play Turkish music.

The Turkish music market itself is also dominated by local artists. “Local

MARKET PROFILE Turkey continued...

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repertoire is still the locomotive of the Turkish music industry,” says Forta. “With the most optimistic estimation, the use of international repertoire in total

consumption is around 10-15%.” That doesn’t leave a great deal of

space for international artists, although Uzelli says that there is some demand, particularly in cities. “We know that people who live in urban areas of Turkey, who have a higher education and income level, tend to listen to more international music than local content,” he says. “Since these people are the ones initially using music services, we had seen a higher percentage of international music listening when these music services first launched in Turkey. The mass market started to use these services and we observed that Turkish music still dominates the market.”

That’s good news for the Turkish recorded music industry. But we should not get too carried away: per-capita recorded music revenue in Turkey remains one of the lowest in Europe. (Turkey, technically, is a transcontinental country located in Western Asia and Southeast Europe.) Per-capita revenue in 2017 was just $0.68, greater than only Russia in Europe, and Turkey’s overall recorded music revenue was just $54.8m in 2017, making it 30th in the world and putting it behind the likes of Hong Kong, New Zealand and Ireland.

And yet, while Turkey’s music industry may not see a repeat of its record-breaking 2017 figures, most observers believe that further growth in the Turkish music market is inevitable. “Previously I have mentioned Turkey’s high potential,” says Uzelli. “This potential and the un-matured market show that fast growth is inevitable in Turkey.”

How long will it be, one wonders, before the Western music industry finally pays proper heed? :)

Source: IFPI